SRV

James "JY" Young

Rick Nielsen

Alex Lifeson

VanHalen

Jeff Beck

Tom Scholz

David Gilmour

CC DeVille

SRV and Jimi for sure (but there are a lot of greats I'm not familiar with)

Recently, someone who has really impressed me is Eric Krasno, with Soulive.  I've seen him live a few times and he's just 100% filthy  8-)

Mine would definitely be Eddie Van Halen.

He pretty much invented 80s rock. 'Nuff said

Herman Li and Sam Totman. Both combined can play extreamly fast! Dragonforce for the win! They might not be the BEST but they are very good. However they are really not that good live.

To quote Ray Wylie Hubbard...

"But when it comes to music my friend

I believe these words are as true as St. John the Revelator's

Our Mr. Vaughan was the best that there ever was

And no band was cooler than the 13th Floor Elevators."

"homeritis".

Herman Li and Sam Totman. Both combined can play extreamly fast! Dragonforce for the win! They might not be the BEST but they are very good. However they are really not that good live.

i've got a mixed dragonforce cd that's been in my car cd player for literally the last 3 months. those guys are definitely at the top of my shred list.

Fury of the Storm has one of the sickest metal solo's i've ever heard. i've also heard that they're not as tight live, but i don't think i'd be able to play 1/10th as fast as they do and still rock out.

Oh and I forgot" SEGOVIA: Flaminco guitarist extrodiaire, the real guy who started hammering the strings 8-)

I cant belive I ommited him from my list

Joe Pass, Charlie Christian,Herb Ellis,Barney Kessler,Jimi Hendrix,SRV,BB KING,Albert Collins,Steve Cropper,Frank Zappa

Django Rheinhardt,Glen Cambell and Earl King

Eddie Van Halen doesnt even exist in the same universe as these guys!

Muddy, I agree 1000%, especially with Joe Pass and Barney Kessel.  I will, however, disagree on the choice of Hendrix and SRV.  Every time I hear Hendrix playing it reminds me of the scene from "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" where Tommy Chong is playing the guitar with a pipe wrench.  While I like SRV as a blues player, he does IMO get very repetitious after a couple of songs.

Jimi Hendrix, Played with LITTLE RICHARD<IKE AND TINA URNER AND THE ISLEY BROTHERS, under his mom's madien name JIMI JAMES, then when he came back from the army he took his dad's name. TO say he is the bridge between the originators of rock and roll and among the founding fathers of R&B and electric blues guitar is an understatement. He had 2 pedals to work with the rest was all manipulation and explotation of the nature of tube amps. Listen to: Third Stone from the sun; The Star Spangled Banner, VOODOO CHILD , Manic Depression, Belly Button Window and Machine Gun ) listen to the rythm tacks on Fire and Dolly Dagger, this guy was an inovator all over the place, BEFORE HIM THERE WERE NONE.

Having lived and played in New Orleans for several years myself, I saw SRV numerous times and never once did I leave a show saying this guy was boring or repitious.John Hammond Jr. who signed the likes of Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzfgerald, Bob Dylan and Coltrane called SR: ONE OF THE SINGLE BEST MUSICANS he had ever seen nuff said 8-)

PS JIMI HENDRIX WAS 27 WHEN he dies; he did all that in only 27 years 8-)

BB King

SRV

Clapton

Hendrix

Stanley Jordan

warren haynes

derek trucks

roy clark

joe bonamassa

Blues: Robert Johnson (not fastest, most diverse, or even melodic player but without him there would be no BB King, muddy waters, clapton etc.

Metal: Dave Mustaine

Rock: David Gilmour (there is no one smoother than this lad)

Country: Chet Atkins (there would be no sweep picking without this man. that means metal solo's would just be regular solos with distortion.

ill throw this on in for fun

best slide guitarist: get this...GEORGE HARRISON...during the 70's and 80's george became one of this greatest slide players in history. he is just in front of, IMO, duane allman.

BEST ALL AROUND: CHET ATKINS

but my favorite guitar player is Doc Watson. the blind, former piano tuner, has perfect melody. 8-) 8-) 8-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mzGrpNZsGA

andres segovia

Randy Rhoads

Randy Rhoads

Yup, I can't believe it took 4 pages to get to him.

no love for jerry cantrell of alice in chains? :-?

Wow I can't believe this only a few people have named Slash,only one person has named the Nuge, and nobody has said Prince.  I mean comon you guys Prince was killer at the Super Bowl last year he did Purple Rain with one hand and just destroyed it.

I mean comon you guys Prince was killer at the Super Bowl last year he did Purple Rain with one hand and just destroyed it.

i must beg to differ, personally i couldnt stand it and felt like i was being "ear rapped" although i must say i wasnt quite listening to the guitar just the vocals

sincerely, not a prince fan  ;D

Since people are giving opions I will. Slash ,Nudgent and Van Halen are just a bit over high school level musicanship. Alvin Lee is really good at playing scales, Prince is a much better writer than he is player, but he is a decent writer. Dimebag and Rhodes::: I thought we were talking muscians here.

I don't know a whole lot about the mating habits of Shad,the life cycle of the crawfish or which 300 rod is better than the next 300 dollar rod. I grew up playing drums I spnet a lot of my teenage life in the FIVE SPOT<BLUE NOTE<VNAGUARD<THE FILL MORE EAST and the APPOLLO. And I spent a good portion of my life dedicated to playing the blues. So I am OK with me puttin my.02 in.

Neal Schon

Dimebag and Rhodes::: I thought we were talking muscians here.

 

Easy. I put other people for whom I think are the best. I said that Dime was my favorite, not the most skilled. I would rather hear that man play guitar than any other.

How does your extensive background as a blues drummer qualify you to critique metal guitarists? Darrell Abbott had a sound that was one hundred percent his own, is emulated still, and said more with his guitar than most singers say in an entire song.

NUMBER 8

His brother, Vinnie Paul is also regarded as one of the best metal drummers ever.

Steven Howe (Yes)

Leo Kotke (12 string genius)

Al-DiMeola

John McLaughlin

Paco De Lucia

Andres Segovia

Michael Lorrimer

Stevie Ray Vaughn

John Williams

Glen Campbel

Melanie Safka

Carlos Montoya (I touched his guitar) LOL

Roy Clark (like him or not, awesome player)

George Benson

Earl Klue

Hutson Brock

Mason Williams

I have to stop, I could quickly name a dozen more......

Ronnie

I'm surprised Vince Gill hasn't shown up on anyone's list.

He had 2 pedals to work with the rest was all manipulation and explotation of the nature of tube amps.

Muddy, this is the best guitarist thread.  The best electronics technician thread hasn't been started yet. :

Since people are giving opions I will. Slash ,Nudgent and Van Halen are just a bit over high school level musicanship. Alvin Lee is really good at playing scales, Prince is a much better writer than he is player, but he is a decent writer. Dimebag and Rhodes::: I thought we were talking muscians here.

I don't know a whole lot about the mating habits of Shad,the life cycle of the crawfish or which 300 rod is better than the next 300 dollar rod. I grew up playing drums I spnet a lot of my teenage life in the FIVE SPOT<BLUE NOTE<VNAGUARD<THE FILL MORE EAST and the APPOLLO. And I spent a good portion of my life dedicated to playing the blues. So I am OK with me puttin my.02 in.

Randy Rhodes probably has more musical education than anybody that has been mentioned.

http://www.angelfire.com/rock/ozzyland/Rhoadsbio.html

Eddie also plays the piano and drums.  He is an electronical genius.